Whether it was planned or not, the game of Table Soccer was launched in March 1947 with cut-out card players. In the patent application the card players were drawn on a strip of card with a dashed outline around each man.

To be honest I have never seen a complete strip of cut-out players, but I do have a very similar card of four goalkeepers shown below. Let there be no doubt the dashed outline did not indicate that the players should be cut square. The assembly instructions are very clear about this, advising the use of small sharp scissors, cutting consistently from one side and then finishing off the edges with a file. I am sure every small boy did this on Christmas morning 1947!



The problem with cutting the player to a square outline is that although it would provide support to the easily bent legs the figure then becomes top heavy and will not balance properly. There was certainly some experimentation with larger plastic bases but the game was in constant flux with press-out card players and then celluloids following quickly behind the first design. Early owners compensated for the weakness by inserting half a split matchstick behind the legs or cutting the card slightly wider around the legs. The stripes on the cut out player appear to have been much more uneven, as if representing the folds in the shirt.



The press-out card player was the second type and looked much the same as his predecessor. The 1949-50 catalogue was re-issued in February 1950, largely to indictae that 10 teams were available in press-out sheets. There is some doubt as to how complete the replacement of the cut-out players was at the time. Some teams remained on sale as cut-out players for several years, at least until 1953 as accessory sales. The untidy cut finish was replaced wth a smooth black outline that gave a slightly unusual appearance to the figure. With two dots for eyes and a dash for a mouth this was hardly an advanced drawing but with colour printing this was a reasonable impression of the real strip of your local team. Whilst there would have been fewer men damaged in removing them from the strip the new design did little to overcome the weakness at the ankles.

The black outline was caused by the way the team was removed from the card strip. In the strip each player was almost entirely pressed out of the card strip in the black outline, only being significantly attached to the strip below the feet.



The owner simply had to cut across the entire strip just below the feet and the players mostly dropped out or could gently be pressed out. The first catalogue in summer 1948 lists 16 designs of Special Team Sheets (press-outs).


In the base set the press-out players continued to be supplied until well in to the years of the OO-Scale moulded figures and were still sold as an accessory until the early seventies, one assumes in very limited quantities.

We have already seen that the team strips came with some compromises such as black socks and also short-sleeved shirts except for the keepers. Most were drawn with a fold down collar although Barcelona was an exception here as well having a round collar. The card players had a long arm gap between the arm and waist, much longer than the later celluloid teams apart from Intermediate Alf. Alf was the first celluloid player and as we will see in the next section carried elements of the card design forward. I named Alf after the comic character Alf Tupper, who was I believe a Wolves supporter.



Galleries of card players follow. Ultimately I would like to assemble separate galleries of cut-out and press-out players but for now the galleries will be mostly press-outs with cut-outs filling some of the gaps. In respect of card players very few genuine card teams were printed by the company and sold of the later team numbers, particularly 50 to 55.






Flick Me! subbuteo archive early card players